THE PURSUIT by Tait, A.F. [artist] - 1856

NY: Published by N. Currier, 152 Nassau Street, 1856. Hand colored lithograph, painted by A.F. Tait, and lithographed by L[ouis] Maurer (his signature on the plate) for N. Currier's New York firm. 52 x 68 cm. A couple of shallow chips along the margins, not affecting image; professionally cleaned, a nice, bright image. The lithograph depicts a dramatic race across a grassy plain, a buckskin clad frontiersman on horseback with pistol drawn is in pursuit of a Native American who has slid to one side of his horse in order to aim his spear at his pursuer. In the background, other Native Americans are likewise being chased by another frontiersman. The frenzy of the chase plays out in the faces of both men and horses. Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait was a British artist who immigrated to the United States in 1850, was known for his natural and wildlife paintings. Currier & Ives reproduced many of his works. Currier & Ives Catalogue Raisonne, [Detroit: c1983], no. 5396. Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888) founded his own lithography firm in New York City in the mid-1830s, having first apprenticed with the Pendleton Brothers in Boston, then briefly with M.E.D. Brown in Philadelphia, and Adam Stodart in New York. James Ives (1824-1895) joined him in 1852, first as a bookkeeper and then in 1856, as a partner. According to Jay Last's book "The Color Explosion: Nineteenth Century American Lithography," [Santa Ana, CA: 2005, p.67], although there were many advances in the creation of color lithographs in the 1850s, Currier & Ives continued to print their work on hand presses, and to have their staff hand-color the prints.